Broadly considered basketball's best point guard for the better part of a decade, the Los Angeles Clippers superstar Chris Paul has taken a back seat to younger players at his position this season. The means behind that shift is obvious: Russell Westbrook and Stephen Curry are enjoying career-best and MVP-caliber seasons, while Paul has simply churned out yet another campaign reserved for only the game's truly upper-echelon performers.

Though his wardrobe hardly suggests it, Russell Westbrook is old-school. The Oklahoma City Thunder superstar plays basketball with a relentless anger that marked the NBA's rise to national prominence in the 1980s and sustained it through the decade thereafter.

Despite the Oklahoma City Thunder superstar putting up monster numbers while keeping his team in playoff contention despite a season-long rash of injuries, Westbrook remains as divisive a player as basketball knows. But another future Hall-of-Famer with a relatively similar playing style is firmly the in the 25 year-old's corner.

Russell Westbrook didn't have his shot going against the Boston Celtics. The difference between the Oklahoma City Thunder point guard and so many other superstars, though, is that Westbrook can still dominate despite not playing his best.

We wouldn't get give most players benefit of the doubt here. It's not an uncommon occurrence for a ballhandler to try a wild attempt with the shot clock winding down, of course. But Russell Westbrook? The "freakiest of freaks?"

During a discussion with ESPN's Heather Cox in advance of Wednesday's nationally televised matchup between the Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers, Brooks went a step further than calling Westbrook just a "freak."

Kevin Durant has the option to become a free agent in summer 2016. Due to rules of the current CBA giving max-level players financial incentive to test the open market as opposed to signing extensions with incumbent teams, the reigning MVP will surely exercise it.